This evening I am honoured to be leading the Maundy Thursday Service at St Mary’s Church Collingbourne Kingston.

Today is a day with ‘all the feels.’ It is Thursday of Holy Week, four days since we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey: we are half way through. It has been fairly quiet since Palm Sunday, but now everything picks up speed. Today we celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist as we remember the Last Supper, we recall how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, an invitation to serve others. Clergy and licensed leaders are invited to their local Cathedral to renew their vows, a time of celebration, and yet we end the day by stripping the altar as we watch and wait recalling Jesus’ betrayal and arrest.

I always leave the evening service feeling somewhat sombre. We are instructed to leave in silence as we bear witness to all that unfolds on this day, ready to enter into the pain and sorrow of Good Friday and Jesus’ death. We are to be thoughtful, prayerful, and perhaps aware of how close we come to failing Jesus in the ways that the disciples did, betraying him, denying him, falling asleep on him, fleeing from the danger. The words from the Lord’s Prayer ‘lead us not into temptation’ are lit in neon for us to heed.

Today’s gospel passage from John describes this final meal that Jesus shares with his disciples, it recalls how Jesus washed their feet and how Peter was somewhat reticent to begin with. John records Jesus’ commandments to his disciples to also wash feet, and to love one another. This meal is a banquet of Jesus’ love for his friends.

And yet, something else is taking place at this meal: at the very beginning of the passage, before the meal has begun, we hear how Judas has already been led into temptation. In order for Jesus to die, in order for him to complete his work here on earth Jesus needs to be arrested, to be tried, to be executed. In short, someone needs to betray Jesus, and it has to be someone close to him. Judas is the one who is led into temptation. Even before the meal has begun the devil has already entered Judas’ heart. Even before Jesus strips from his outer robe and places a towel of servitude around his waist and kneels before Judas to wash his stinking feet, Judas’ heart already beats with the stench of betrayal. Jesus knows it, Judas knows it, and yet they continue to go through with this charade of friendship and servanthood.

Lead us not into temptation.

Matthew 6:13

Perhaps it wasn’t a charade? Perhaps Jesus deliberately wanted to cleanse Judas ahead of his betrayal? Perhaps Judas’ clean feet add a deeper poignancy to Peter’s desire to be cleansed from head to toe and Jesus’ reply that ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet.’ (v 10) Feet would always be filthy in Jesus’ culture. The open sandals, the dusty roads, which during times of festival when the city was overcrowded and the blood of sacrificial animals mingled with sewage flowing through the centre of the streets, would ensure the filthiest of feet. Everyone’s feet are stinking, however only one of the disciples’ hearts is filthy with betrayal. Jesus washes Judas’ feet but cannot cleanse his heart from what he is about to do.

The disciples will slumber when Jesus most needs their emotional support. They will all flee when the soldiers grab him, one shucking his clothes in order to run away naked! Peter will deny even knowing Jesus. Only one will suffer a broken heart of such depth that he will hang himself from a tree as Jesus is nailed to another. Only one disciple will have been led into the ultimate temptation.

We tend to admire John for being the gentle disciple whom Jesus loved, a poet, a faithful. We love Peter for making so many mistakes where he was over eager to do the right thing. We even have a soft spot for Thomas who needed evidence in order to believe. Judas we are fearful of: none of us wants to be like Judas. Perhaps, though, there is something of the betrayer in each of us, tucked away out of sight. Perhaps we are fearful that one day we too might betray someone we love, be tempted by wealth and power, the ability to move things on in the ‘right’ direction. Perhaps we long for Jesus to wash our feet, but maybe not for him to see into our hearts. Perhaps we simply feel that we are not good enough for Jesus to love us.

Jesus knew that Peter would deny him and that Judas would betray him, and yet he washed both their feet. Jesus would wash our feet too. Jesus loved both Judas and Peter, and he also loves us. We may think that we aren’t good enough, or holy enough, to have our feet washed clean, or to feast at his table. Our feet though, don’t need to be bathed before we eat, not in our closed toe clean street culture. Only our hearts need to be cleansed. So, before meeting around his table, before receiving the bread and wine in remembrance of that first Last Supper, we make our confession.

Our Lord Jesus Christ says:
‘If you love me, keep my commandments.’
‘Unless I wash you, you have no part in me.’
Let is confess to almighty God our sins against his love and ask him to cleanse us.

Common Worship, Church House Publishing

We confess our sins, we recite the Lord’s Prayer, and as we receive forgiveness for all our failings, we pray let us not be like Judas, we pray ‘lead us not into temptation’.